Human-centric AI needed to best benefit workers

Businesses around Australia are adopting AI in the hopes that it will boost their organisation’s productivity; however, reliance on automation without a human in the loop is a recipe for failure.

AI has the potential to impact human creativity and job prospects; however, allowing AI to control critical parts of a business could set organisations up for failure. Lenovo’s executive director for CAP and ANZ, Kumar Mitra (pictured), said that for successful implementation, AI must be human-centric.

Previously, Julia Anas, chief people officer at Qualtrics, told HR Leader about the importance of focusing on the “people difference” amid the AI transformation as opposed to shying away from learning while leveraging AI.

Mitra said that sustainable AI-led productivity gains are led by humans, rather than doing their job for them. The push towards industry-wide implementation was demonstrated when, on 14 January, Microsoft Australia entered a framework agreement with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), aiming to provide workers and unions with a collective voice and training for the AI transformation, facilitating widespread scaling.

Moving from experimentation to execution

Mitra stated that for businesses to succeed in this transformation, they must “acknowledge hybrid AI as the architecture that makes this possible – moving from the experimentation phase and into execution”.

Hybrid AI has already proven its worth, through increased compliance, efficiency, cost control and resilience. Mitra said responsible and efficient scaling of AI with a clear focus on business outcomes is the best foot forward in the transformation.

Mitra noted that scaled execution depends on confidence, and this begins with trust. “Once AI is trusted at the leadership level, its impact can extend beyond decision making and into how innovation itself happens,” he said.

He said leadership is increasingly asking for AI that can explain its recommendations, respect customer privacy, and reflect local nuance.

He stressed: “When AI falls short on this, it can become a brake on progress, rather than an accelerator.”

AI opening up access to innovation

Mitra noted that rapid experimentation and faster time to value are unlocked through the use of natural-language interfaces and agentic AI, which allows domain experts, doctors, plant managers, and supply chain leaders to “design and orchestrate AI-driven workflows without needing to be AI specialists”.

Mitra said that this shift is “exciting” as AI is now changing who can participate in innovation as long as secure, well-governed infrastructure is established.

“As Australia looks to lift productivity in 2026, the focus must shift from standalone AI initiatives to building systems that are trusted, hybrid by design and sustainable at scale,” he said.

“Organisations that get this right will not only scale AI more efficiently, but unlock faster decision making, stronger workforce participation and more sustainable economic growth.”

The consequences of not making AI human-centric

Businesses not prioritising sustainable, responsible and human-centric productivity are already learning the hard way.

In July last year, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced that it would be cutting at least 45 human roles in the wake of its adoption of AI, a month after it had announced a new customer assistance AI voice bot system.

“Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres,” a CBA spokesman said regarding the voice bot.

“By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience.

“To meet the changing needs of our customers ... we review the skills we need and how we’re organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes. That means some roles and work can change.”

Despite saying this would allow its human staff to prioritise more complex tasks, the bank quickly rolled back the job cuts after call volumes quickly skyrocketed, despite the bank claiming they were lower, according to the Finance Sector Union (FSU). This led to team leaders being asked to pick up the phones and the bank offering overtime.

Following major pressure from FSU members and a Fair Work Commission dispute, the CBA decided to roll back the mass termination. Staff were offered their jobs back or the option to take a voluntary exit payment.

“This is a massive win for workers, proving what can be achieved when members stand together – but let’s be clear, this is no victory lap,” said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano.

“CBA has been caught out trying to dress up job cuts as innovation. Using AI as a cover for slashing secure jobs is a cynical cost-cutting exercise, and workers know it.”